Participants will wear hoodies on the square

A rally will be held at Fountain Square today to commemorate the shooting death of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin and to demand a thorough investigation of the incident.

The event begins at 5 p.m. and attendees are asked to bring signs that aren’t posted on sticks, to comply with a local law, and also to wear hooded jackets. Martin, 17, was wearing a “hoodie” when George Zimmerman allegedly killed him Feb. 26 in Sanford, Fla.

Rallies have been held across the nation during the past week to protest the handling of Martin’s case. Many of the participants have worn hoodies in a show of solidarity with the slain teenager, often carrying signs that state, “I am Trayvon Martin.”

Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory posted a similar photograph on his Facebook page over the weekend. It’s unclear if Mallory plans to attend today’s rally.

Among the groups organizing the rally are Occupy The Hood and the Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center.

Zimmerman, 28, who says he belongs to a neighborhood watch program in his gated community, began following Martin at about 7 p.m. for what he described in a 911 call as “suspicious behavior.” Martin was walking back to his father’s condominium after buying iced tea for himself and Skittles for his soon-to-be stepbrother.

"This guy looks like he's up to no good, on drugs or something," Zimmerman told a 911 dispatcher.

Some sort of encounter occurred that resulted in Martin’s death. Sanford Police didn’t arrest Zimmerman, saying that it appeared he acted in self-defense.

After the incident became publicized through Facebook, Twitter and other social media, public outcry grew. More than 2 million people have signed an online petition demanding justice, and the FBI and the U.S. Justice Department have launched investigations.

In a move that's been expected for months, the parent company of The Enquirer informed investors Wednesday that all of its websites will implement a paywall model by year's end. Under the switch, online users will be able to access a limited number of articles for free every month, then must subscribe if they want to see additional digital content. Gannett Co. executives said it would probably offer between five and 15 articles for free per month, and compared the change to a system implemented by The New York Times last year. That newspaper, however, offers 20 free articles per month.

Hamilton County will soon have its first female coroner. The local Democratic Party's central committee will meet tonight to vote on the appointment of Dr. Lakshmi Kode Sammarco, a radiologist who lives in Indian Hill. She will replace Dr. Anant Bhati, who died last week from injuries sustained in a fall.

In a sign that the economy might be improving, local home sales increased in January. The Cincinnati Area Board of Realtors says sales last month rose almost 11 percent over January last year.

The city manager and his staffers at City Hall seem to be keeping pertinent facts from Cincinnati City Council. First, council members said they weren't aware that a Hamilton restaurant in line to get almost $1 million in grants and loans to open a location at The Banks just paid off a delinquent property tax bill that was almost two years old on their eatery in Butler County. Then, council members learned the city's recently hired human relations director had to resign from her previous position in Detroit over a controversy involving a severance payment. Although Georgetta Kelly said she had nothing to do with a $200,000 payout to a woman who voluntarily left a county job to become CEO of an airport, her signature appears on some of the documents.

In news elsewhere, a Georgia lawmaker who is disturbed by Republicans' increasing attempts to pass new legislation involving abortion and birth control has offered a proposal of her own. State Rep. Yasmin Neal, a Democrat, wants to begin regulating vasectomies. If approved, her bill would ban the practice of male sterilization except in cases where a man faces serious health risks without one. It was crafted as a response to a so-called “fetal pain bill” proposed by Republicans, which would ban abortions after 20 weeks.

Even though he wants to end the Afghanistan war and impose a more isolationist foreign policy, Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul has received more donations from members of the military than all of his GOP rivals and President Obama combined during 2011's fourth quarter. Paul raised more than $150,000 from active-duty military personnel.

The United Nations has a secret list of top Syrian officials who could face investigation for crimes against humanity for their violent crackdown against anti-government protestors, according to a U.N. report. The list includes Syrian President Bashar Assad, said London's The Independent. Sources tell the newspaper as many as 500 children have been killed in the violence.

RFK's daughter is author, human rights activist

Human rights activist and author Kerry Kennedy, one of the late Robert F. Kennedy’s daughters, will be in Cincinnati Friday to speak about women who create social change.

Kennedy will appear at an event sponsored by the Woman’s City Club of Greater Cincinnati. The speech will begin at 7:30 p.m. at the Millennium Hotel, 150 W. Fifth St., in downtown Cincinnati.

Tickets to the event cost $25 for the lecture or $125 for the lecture and a reception with the speaker afterward, and are available online in advance or at the door.

She will present a speech entitled, “The Power of One: Stories of Inspiration from Women on the Cutting-Edge of Social Change.”

Kennedy, 52, is president of the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Justice and Human Rights in Washington, D.C. Also, she is chairwoman of the Amnesty International USA Leadership Council.

Kennedy is author of the best-selling books, Being Catholic Now: Prominent Americans Talk about Change in the Churchand the Quest for Meaning, along with Speak Truth to Power: Human Rights Defenders Who Are Changing Our World.

She is the seventh of Robert F. Kennedy’s 11 children. From 1990-2005, she was married to Andrew Cuomo, the current New York governor and son of Mario Cuomo.

Founded in 1915, Woman’s City Club has worked to foster civic reform and social justice in Cincinnati. Among its many activities, the club helped establish the city’s first race relations committee and held study circles on various issues to encourage greater civic participation.

With the recent rash of suicides by gay youth who were harrassed, Equality Cincinnati is sponsoring a screening of the documentary, Bullied: A Student, A School and a Case That Made History, at the Esquire Theatre. After the film, a panel discussion will be held.

A bipartisan political action committee (PAC) that lobbies for “fair and just immigration laws” has selected Butler County's outspoken sheriff as one of 10 U.S. politicians inducted into itsnewly created Hall of Shame for local officials across the nation.

Immigrants' List saysSheriff Richard K. Jones was selected because the conservative Republican exploits fear and misinformation to make headlines and further his political ambitions.

As far as conservatives go, I can tolerate columnist George Will and often enjoy reading his work. Unlike most of what passes as conservatism today, Will tends to base his arguments on logic and fact, not emotion and rhetoric.

Making him even more of an anomaly in Republican circles, Will acknowledges and corrects his errors, when he makes them. As an added bonus, he's also a deft wordsmith.

Despite his many years in office, Congressman Steve Chabot (R-Westwood) could stand to take a few pointers from Will. Chabot, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia, spoke during a hearing Wednesday about his concerns with a total withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq by year's end.

Because it can take years after exposure for symptoms to develop, many people who are infected with the virus that causes AIDS don't even realize it. More than one million people in the United States are estimated to be living with HIV, and approximately one in five people with HIV are unaware they're infected, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Local and national leaders working to advance equal rights for LGBT people will gather tonight in Covington to unveil a national award in honor of the late Nancy Minson.

The National Gay & Lesbian Task Force and the Cincinnati Women's Political Caucus is co-sponsoring “Light of One, Power of Many: A Night to Honor Nancy Minson.” The event will be held at The Carnegie Visual and Performing Arts Center in Covington, and begins with a reception at 6 p.m.

Coinciding events are in response to recent assault on gay students in Oxford

University of
Cincinnati and Miami University student organizations will hold
rallies at 5 p.m. Thursday in response to the March 24 assault of two
students — one from UC and one from Miami — on the Miami
campus. The events are meant to show support for GLBT people and call
for an end to hate crimes.

Miami University
student Michael Bustin and a male friend were reportedly walking home
from a drag show when someone yelled a derogatory slur at them. Bustin's friend was then attacked by four men who also reportedly assaulted Bustin when he tried to help, according to
WLWT-TV. The two men had been holding hands during their walk home.
Miami University sent a memo to the community and reached
out to Bustin soon afterward.

The rallies’ Facebook
page says the other man was a University of Cincinnati student. The
police have released a sketch of one of the accused attackers and are
seeking the public’s help to find those involved.

Both events will begin
at 5 p.m. Those attending the Miami rally are encouraged to wear
"Love is the New Label/White Out Hate" shirts or just white
T-shirts or tops. After the rally, participants will line up holding
hands in a demonstration of solidarity and to show that “no one
deserves to be hurt for showing affection.”

More from the rallies’
Facebook page: “We, the students of the LGBTQA alliances of Miami
University and University of Cincinnati, stand united in our demand
for a safe places to live, learn, work and show affection. It is
unacceptable for anyone to be assaulted, but it is especially
repulsive for the victims to be targeted because of their race,
ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or any
other classification.”

The Miami rally will
take place at the Phi Delt Gates on the Miami Campus, while the UC event will take place
at the corner of Martin Luther King Drive and Clifton Avenue. The
events are being organized by Miami Spectrum and UC Alliance.